Low-Cost Retail Investors Could Be Waking Up To Trump's Protectionism

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) and Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) plummeted as much as 2 percent Friday morning, and traders attributed the activity to continued concern on proposed border taxes.

President Donald Trump’s emphasis on domestic job growth and proposal of a 20-percent tariff on Mexican goods could shake retailers reliant on low-cost imports.

Investors, it seems, are growing increasingly aware of how changes to the U.S.-Mexico relationship would impact their portfolios.

Throughout the last month, the blue-chip Wal-Mart stock sunk 8 percent as traders considered the policy implications. They plunged Friday on high volume in a matter of seconds.

So did the values of multiple other companies in the retail sector.

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) and Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) fell in amounts equivalent to their peers, while Sears Holding Corp (NASDAQ: SHLD) plunged a full 8.2 percent.

SPDR S&P Retail (ETF) (NYSE: XRT) last traded at $42.69.

Image Credit: By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America - Donald Trump, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons